Big Ben admits game was 'too big' for teammates
It's hard to imagine the crushing feeling players must feel after a heartbreaking - and in this case, rather humiliating - playoff loss. They worked so hard all season, fought to within one game of the Super Bowl, and then in one moment in front of the entire country, saw it disintegrate in their hands.
A bit like that poor raccoon's cotton candy.
Naturally, some emotional talk following the result is to be expected. But after the loss on Sunday night, Ben Roethlisberger took it a bit far.
Via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
"There were missed opportunities whether we didn't execute well enough, whether plays weren't made by me or other guys. At times it felt like maybe it was too big for some of the young guys."
He continued.
"We talk about how sometimes it's just one play here, one play there. Tonight we didn't make those plays. Was [the moment] too big? I don't know. We need to make every single play in a game like this, in a moment like this. Hopefully, this is a learning game for guys to understand this isn't promised to anybody. Tomorrow isn't promised. Just to make the playoffs isn't enough."
Again, players feeling (and speaking, to some extent) emotional following a loss like this is to be expected, but this jab from Big Ben all feels rather needless.
It's not that he's wrong, it's this was the wrong moment. Why drive a stake between yourself and your teammates when they're at their lowest, issuing a challenge then offering them no avenue to rise to it?
The Steelers have assembled a young, talented roster around Big Ben that didn't show itself Sunday night, but it doesn't then follow that they were satisfied merely to make it this far. Perhaps the game was too big for them, but that's not really their fault. Indeed, in many ways, it's to be expected: Part of the process of pushing talented young players onto that next step is to allow them to experience - and fail - in high-profile moments like this. Only then can they truly learn, and come back with the kind of desire Ben has shown throughout his career.
Ben said as much himself, but in this context, he spoiled that message. It feels too much like teammates while they're down; trying to save himself some face and shift the blame, rather than be one determined to lead. There was a time an place for Ben to have this conversation with his teammates, and in public mere minutes after a crushing loss was not it.